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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  December 21, 2012 9:00am-11:00am PST

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i'm suzanne malveaux in the cnn newsroom. he wants longtime senator john kerry to replace hillary clinton. the formal announcement coming in the next hour at about 1:30 or so eastern. we'll have that live. we asked americans how they feel about john kerry as secretary of state, but first, kerry's nomination hardly a surprise. people close to him already calling him mr. secretary. here's a little bit about him from kate bolduan. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. >> reporter: his senate colleagues have joked about his ambition, what many regarded as the worst-kept secret in washington, even in recent senate hearings john kerry sound like he was looking ahead to the future job and the anticipated battled over the state department budget with with congress. >> that must change and in the next session of the congress i hope it will. >> reporter: he wasn't the president's first choice.
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u.n. ambassador susan rice took herself out of the running after republican backlash. >> it was unjustified to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice. >> reporter: senator kerry knows himself about being torpedoed by attacks. accused in his 2004 presidential run of lying about his military record in vietnam. >> john kerry has not been honest about what happened in vietnam. >> reporter: and criticized for his 1971 testimony opposing vietnam war. >> how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in vietnam? kerry was painted a flip-flopper and out of touch, and unable to grasp struggles of regular americans and kerry did put president obama, then an unknown politician on the national stage at the democratic convention. >> john kerry believes that in a dangerous world war must be an option sometimes, but it should
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never be the first option. >> reporter: following the loss, kerry immersed himself in foreign policy. >> we stand adjourned. >> reporter: now the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, he's been an unofficial envoy for president obama, helping ease tension with president karzai in afghanistan and helping mend strained relations with pakistan after the killing of osama bin laden. >> we are strategic partners with a common enemy in terrorism and extremism. >> reporter: but kerrie is not totally in sync with obama, and he has had limited intervention in syria, something the froms has resisted. kerry has built deep relationships with many foreign leaders? there are very few people in our country with greater experience over a longer period of time in foreign policy than senator kerry. >> i want to bring in jessica yellin live from the white house. i covered kerr ney 2004 when he was running for president and he
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was successfully caricatured as someone who was out of touch. give us a behind-the-scenes look at who he is and how he relates to people. >> reporter: well, senator kerry is a statesman, a man who has been working in washington for so many years that it is easy to paint a caricature of him that way. he is a man who has developed a relationship with president obama which is what's meaningful today and here at the white hou house. he is, as kate pointed out, was dispatched by the president not just two times or a number of times during foreign sort of mini crises, but very, very delicate situations and he has successfully eased the way when he went with, for example, to afghanistan to talk to president hamid scar karzai, to encourage to run for a runoff election and he got it done. the president has seen him
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demonstrate his abilities as a diplomat and of course, in the debate prep with president obama, he played mitt romney during this most recent round of debate preps. it didn't start out so well, as we know, but it ended well for the president and they had a strong connection and the president in the end thought that, you know, he came to very much respect john kerry and will be, they think, a very effective part of the team. >> susan rice, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. as seen as potentially the top pick for that post and you have john kerry who has wanted it for quite some time. how did they manage to finesse that? >> reporter: well, i would put it this way, my reporting is that there were two people being considered for the post, two people being vetted and they were susan rice and senator kerry and the president was, as you know, fiercely defensive of her once she came under attack and didn't want her name or her record to be tarnished in any
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way. as soon as that became -- it mushroomed on the hill and that became too much of an obstacle and an overwhelming challenge and once she withdrew her name it was very clear that it was only john kerry. senator kerry has been a foregone conclusion since she withdrew her name last week and it was just a matter of time until the president made this announcement, suzanne. >> finally, massachusetts, of course, the senate seat there. it looks like republicans really wanted to see john kerry as the potential pick here because they could kind of squeeze in, if you will, slip in one of their own. >> reporter: sure, well, you know, betting money is that scott brown will run for that seat. he ran and lost and so could he go for that seat? but there are other names circulating and ben affleck is always -- the most best to look
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at. and there's even talk that vicky kennedy, senator ted kennedy's widow, i'm told, might temporarily fill the seat. she's not interested in running for it, but i am told by a democrat that she would consider temporarily filling it until there is an election for a permanent replacement. >> a kennedy or ben affleck. that will be an interesting run there. >> a lot of options. >> all right. thank you. >> president obama nominating senator john kerry for secretary of state. that is happening in the next hour and 1:30 p.m. eastern and kerry would replace hillary clinton as she steps down from the post and we'll have that announcement as soon as it starts and that will be live at 1:30. in newtown, connecticut, was there a moment of silence. the ringing of the bells. [ bells ]
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>> church bells rang out in honor of those killed a week ago when a gunman burst into sandy hook elementary school. 20 children and six adults died at the school. the gunman also killed his mother and himself. governors in at least 29 states called for a moment of silence in honor of the victims. now the white house says president obama took part privately. also in newtown today, three more victims of the massacre are being laid to rest. yesterday funerals were held for three 6-year-olds and two teachers. it is a heartbreaking scene that has played out over and over again this week. the mother of the gunman adam lanza has also been laid to rest. a friend says nancy lanza was buried yesterday at an undisclosed location. the gun control debate intensifying one week after that horror in newtown, connecticut,
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the killing of innocent children. just moments ago we heard from the national rifle association, executive director wayne lapierre called for putting armed police in every school. he also blamed the media, violent video games and a lack of prosecutions of violent crimina criminals. more gun laws are not the answer. >> the only way, the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. the only thing this stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> critics say the nra uses money, power, scare tactics to hold lawmakers hostage to the agenda opposing gun regulations. i want to bring in richard painter and the law professor of
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minnesota and joining us from minneapolis who wrote an opinion piece, an op ed in "the new york times," and a protection racket where people are controlled by organized criminals, corrupt politicians. when you hear the head of the nra today say that gun laws are not the answer it really is arming people, arming somebody in that school that could have saved lives, what is your response? >> well, we -- of course, should focus on mental health issues. we should have fewer violent movies and video games and have better security in our schools, but nothing is going to change the fact that the last thing those children saw if they looked up, and i hope they didn't, is the end of a weapon manufactured by his financial backers. lapierre says if one of those teachers had a weapon they could have killed the gunman and could have saved lives and that was
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the potential outcome had there been someone armed in that school. >> we could always speculate about potential outcomes, but to have more weapons in the schools, particularly in the hands of people other than trained law enforcement, i think, is a very dangerous thing. the point i made in the op ed is that we need to have this debate free of the influence of the nra money which has been used to intimidate politicians, particularly politicians from my own republican party and intimidate them into refusing to go along with any gun control whatsoever and i think that's unacceptable. >> do you think he has a point when he says federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 40% over the last decade or so? that the laws simply are not being enforced? >> there is a point there. we need to have more prosecution s for violations of the gun laws
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and we do not need semiautomatic weapons on our streets in the hands of dangerous people. >> what do you make of the case that he says here that there is -- he almost implies a conspiracy between the media and those who promote hollywood violent films and video games. do you think there really is a problem with our culture that makes this so deadly and so violent? >> we do have a problem with our culture. we have violent video games. we have violent movies and a lack of mental health services and we don't have adequate security in our schools, yes, but we also have too many guns and in particular, semiautomatic weapons in the hands of people who should not have them and we don't need nra money being poured into election and in particular in the republican primaries to intimidate politicians and public servants who want to do something to help the american people and those of
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us who are parents of children who are very worried about our children's future. >> and you also write in your op ed, the national rifle association is ruthless against candidates who attempted to stray from its views that all gun regulations are pure evil. this is a group that has 4 million members. why do you suppose it has that kind of clout? >> not all those members are members who necessarily support the views of the nra. to use a weapon, even a 22 on a shooting range in many parts of the country, you are required to join the nra. the fact of the matter is a lot of the nra's money comes from the gun manufacturers who want to sell more weapons to more people. >> thank you very much, appreciate your perspective. we will delve a little bit more into this later in the hour, as well. >> next hour, the late robert f. kennedy's daughter, kerry kennedy will weigh in on the debate over gun control. as you remember it was back in 1968 robert kennedy died shortly
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after being shot by sirhan sirhan at the hotel in los angeles. we all might get a tax increase. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all? it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up.
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nobody ought to read anything into this. we've got differences, but the country's got big spending problems and we've got to get serious about addressing them. >> house speaker john boehner there speaking out after his plan to avoid the massive tax increases and spending cuts was rejected and boehner withdrew his plan b because lack of support among his own party and it doesn't mean he's walking away from efforts to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff and
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negotiations are still in limbo and driving the stocks down and i want to bring in christine romans, money team. how is this playing out in the stock market? >> the market has been assuming this was going to get done and today what investors are seeing is no clear pathway forward for a fiscal deal. they see more talking about talking. they see a plan b that failed. they don't know what the next plan is going to be and we're measuring days until the fiscal cliff in hours, actually, so you're seeing a real nervousness on wall street. muhammad el aryan, pimco, a big bond fund and what happened if we go over the fiscal cliff. you see stocks fall and disruptions in global markets and it would not be a good thing for economies and it would not be a good thing for the stock market and investors are now starting to realize that there are hopes and assumptions that grown-ups in washington would prevail and this would get fixed
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and those might have been too rosy, those assumptions. >> what does it mean when you think of all of our taxes going up. how will this impact most of us, most middle class folks that are looking at the potential of all of this? >> i made a list for you, quite frankly. it means a difference to your paycheck. it means this will have to file an extension for your tax refund. it could be refunds delayed and tax season starts in just a few weeks. it means payroll processors don't exactly know what to do in terms of the withholding tables for your paycheck. think of it, you're going to get a paycheck in the first week in january and some will get it in the first week of january and you could get a paycheck and companies right now don't know what to do. estate planners are saying you're seeing people give their money away ahead of launching for next year. and you're seeing early stock dividend payouts meaning the companies are giving big
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dividends early seeing high income taxes next year on investments and you're seeing companies not spending money on software and equipment like they should be because they just have no idea, no idea whether this congress is going to send us into a recession. >> christine, real quickly here. explain to us really what the sticking point is because it's all about the rate here in terms of taxes and the last deal that the president put out there is those making more than $400,000, that they would get a tax increase. boehner's plan b, millionaires and above. that was just scrapped. where are we? it seems like there's some sort of marker or margin that we're dealing with. >> so you started with the president saying i wanted to raise taxes on people who make 250 or higher and john boehner said no one. >> a million or higher, but members of john boehner's party, members of the republican party said no, we don't want anything that looks like we're raising taxes. so the real sticking pointhere, even as you hear the house
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speaker talk about spending and we need serious spending plans from the white house and the real problem here is that republicans can't agree on whether they will raise taxes for everyone and on what level and everyone's taxes will rise on january 31st. that's the irony here. >> christine romans, thank you. we hope they get something done and some sort of deal done before january 1st. this country at war with itself in the past two weeks, at least 35 little kids and two teachers have been killed. how the kids of syria are finding life in the violence that surrounds them.
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that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. this just in. the u.n. mission in south sudan says that a u.n. helicopter has now crashed in south sudan killing all four of the crew members that were onboard. we are trying to get as much information on this as possible. as soon as we have identifications or more details about that crash we will bring that to you. we are monitoring this throughout the hour. coping with the killing of little schoolchildren and their teachers. we are actually not talking
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about the massacre at sandy hook and connecticut. we are talking about half a world away in syria. 35 young students and two teachers have been killed over the past couple of weeks. the school has to stayec to used on getting these kids to learn while this war rages around them. alex thomas takes us there. >> reporter: yes, they yell, we're ready for lessons and in they come and 1600 people at this damascus school, two ships across the day. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: under the ever watchful eye of president assad, reading lessons for children, a city, a country at war with itself. what kind of things are these little girls seeing beyond the school gates? >> translator: we as educators
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don't support one side or the other. our concern is for the child to learn. so we keep the school open and help with their fears. we can't do as much as before, but the key thing is to try to deal with their anxiety. >> reporter: up, down, left, right, two, three, four. out in the playground it's a p-e lesson. exercises including running to the wall, touching it and running back. here, the running's for fun, but beyond the school walls, a shell or mortar can land anywhere any time, running could be a matter of life and death. for obvious reasons the killing of small children and teachers in and around school buildings is pretty near the top of the news agenda at the moment. so it is in this educational district and the one next door alone in the past two weeks, 35 small children and two teach verse been killed. the security building next to
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the school was car bombed recently, leaving a staff candid about the problems they face here. >> translator: lots of children had to leave their areas, friends, teachers and move which is very difficult. also we get students pushed out from places so the school's new to them. we do our best to help, but it's beyond us. it's way too big. and then wanted to sing us a patriotic song. she was soon overwhelmed by the general chant, god, syria, bashar al assad. asked to draw a picture, this little ad has come up with tanks, guns in the colors of the government flag. this is one of several shelters across damascus to people displaced by the fighting. >> translator: the reason we're doing this is because we've seen
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what happens to syrians who have had to leave the country for refugee catches. they're treated very badly. we don't want that to happen again. >> reporter: they may wear with anoracs, but they claim everyone here is welcome no matter their political affiliation. >> i want to bring in hala gorani and you can't help, but look at those kids' faces and see the faces of these kids in newtown, connecticut, who were massacred. this is happening on a daily basis in syria? >> reporter: well, absolutely. children are killed on a daily basis in syria. they're not safe in schools and big challenge for cities such as aleppo, and i am in touch with people in that city very regularly is for those children who can't go to school because their districts and neighborhood are regularly bombed and shelled and they're homeless in parts of the city where there is less violence is trying to figure out a way to keep their lives as
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normal as possible. they are pouring into schools that are not in their neighborhood. so class sizes are increasing and many of them don't have their toys, their rooms and so you have schools and hospitals and other organizations trying to keep them busy every day with coloring books, with activities, with group activities for these children. this is a lost generation, suzanne, essentially. for the last year, year and a half, these are 9, 10, 11-year-old children we're seeing on our air right now without regular schooling and with a huge pause in their educational -- in their education -- in their education and their childhood and what will become of them is very unclear going forward. >> hala, what do they say in terms of what's the most important thing for those kids and helping them cope? >> well, it's getting over the trauma of having an 88-year-old or 9-year-old or 10-year-old or a younger child drawing tanks when asked to draw a picture.
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it's having seen death close up. it's having seen streets with tanks and their homes destroyed. it's getting over the trauma even in ordinary times in a country like syria. the psychological assistance was something hard to come by so imagine the hundreds of thousands of people and their children having to get through this every day. it's going to be an extremely difficult challenge to them, and i think people can relate when they see that. those young, syrian children when things are taking place. thank you very much for putting in perspective for us. some folks today think that the mayan calendar points to today as the end of the world. we're going to go live to mexico. while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price.
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all right. apocalypse averted according to some interpretations of the mayan calendar 12/21/12 was doomsday. amazingly, one in ten people around the world believed it. so for the survivors, all of us celebrating we want to go live to the mayan ruin, chichen itza, mexico. nick parker, i don't know, you're there. you're okay. the hour came and went. how did people celebrate and how did they react to all of this?
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>> reporter: yes, we're here and everything seems to be going okay so far. we had drizzle and a bit windy and that was the extent of the apocalyptic visions here. basically, it's been a real day of celebration so far and we were at the first light of chichen itza when we saw thousands of people turning up to basically gather to try and catch chichen itza right at dawn when the first light takes place. the ticket hall was absolutely packed and they pulled in to this archaeological site to take in the full splendor of these monuments adorned and the rest of the day has been a day of big celebrations and i thinyou can divide the people here between tourists who are extremely interested in the idea of december the 21st, the end of the mayan calendar and perhaps somewhat tantalized by the idea of a doomsday and a lot of
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so-called new agers who have gathered from all around the world to come here and channel their own belief system and to celebrate how they interpret the mayan calendar. so it's really been a day of celebration rather than doom watching, i have to say. >> yeah. all right. we all get to live another day. good to see you. glad you made it there. we'll have more after this. it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting.
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and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing? we're going to wake the world up. ♪ and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. ♪ cisco. tomorrow starts here. ♪ hark how the bells, sweet silver bells ♪ ♪ all seem to say throw care away ♪ ♪ from everywhere, filling the air ♪ [ female announcer ] chex party mix. easy 15-minute homemade recipes
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that went dark and it involved putting a badge on the main page of the website that had a green ribbon saying we're observing a national moment of silence. including "the huffington post," tech crunch, and adobe. you also had lots of people tweeting the #moment for sandy hook. so all in all, a pretty good reaction from the technology community. >> we also heard from the head of the nra who in part was blaming violent video games for the violence. i want you to listen to what he said. >> there exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry, that sells and stows violence against its own people through vicious, violent video games with names
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like "bullet storm," "grand theft auto," "mortal kombat" and "splatter house." >> is there any reaction from online game producers to these accusations? >> you know, suzanne, this is a debate that has been going on for a very long time. of course, it's now front and center, and the reason why you have these violent, and millions of profits and perhaps you're beginning to see a shift in public opinion, for instance for these three conference this year which is the largest gathering of gamers each year. you had some developers openly expressing that the violence is getting out of control, that it's too gory and gratuitous. and until you see them make changes you're probably not going see any meaningful action and we should also point out,
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and ratings on the game title so parents have a sense of how violent and nonviolent the games have to be, but maybe you're seeing the evolution in public opinion, but kind remains to be seen. coming up, dr. sanjay gupta, he'll take a look at the mental health angle of the story. wait till your kids move back home after college. we were going through so much of the bargain detergent. and the clothes didn't look as good. but since we switched to tide we use much less. an amazing clean for all three of our full-grown dependent bundles of joy. that's my tide, what's yours?
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the national coverage of the newtown shooting, several residents have said the shooter adam lanza had asbe berger's syndrome. sanjay gupta takes a look at the fact and the fiction behind this misunderstood condition. >> asperger's is a type of autism. doctors call autism a neurodevelopmental disorder, not a type of illness. it's something you're born with and it it does tend to run in families. the condition was found by dr. as perringer in 1944. he people with asperger's and he was focused primarily on children are socially isolated, they have problems with communication, there's something off in their interactions with with other people. they can missocial cues. take this example. if someone walks over and says
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hello, most of us naturally say hello right back. a child with asperger's that doesn't come as instinctively. they lack what you call social intuition. another symptom, people with asperger's tend to become extremely focused and obsessed with details. one example, temple grandone, she has asperger's and she's written six books and a top expert in designing facilities for livestock. there are crucial distinctions. one, children with asperger's do not have language problems. their speech often develops normally. also by definition, people with asperger's have average to high intelligence and it seems to be common in the tech world, at least more common, not to mention actress darryl hannah and actor tim page. he won a pulitzer prize. there's a common misconception and people with asperger's lack empathy. if you look closer this isn't necessarily true. people with asperger's tend to be bad at recognizing emotions in other people, but research and experience show this.
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they do relate to those emotions. in fact, they can be extremely intense almost like they feel too much for other people, even animals. temple grandone became famous for developing humane livestock pens and she could put hers in the animal's place and she said she could feel their pain. asperger's is not associated with will violence like the connecticut school shootings. people with asperger's could be easily frustrated and children are prone to tantrums, but there is some are evidence that they're more likely to plan violence or want to hurt others. in fact, they're much more likely to be targeted and bullied themselves. come may, asperger's won't exist anymore. it's just part of autism disorder. we don't really understand what's different in the wiring in the brain of someone with these krngs but i hope some day we can unlock those secrets and i hope that can help a lot of people out there. i'm dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> as we all try to figure out
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why that gunman killed 27 people in newtown. we're continuing to focus on mental health. our next guest says the rampage shootings are never spontaneous, usually the shooter's last act in a long search for acceptance. it can be easy to spot, dealing with it, of course, not. in a town with people coping to unimaginable sorrow are turning to a trained dog. >> he's a comfort dog. you can pet him. it says right here, please pet me. >> a comfort dog is one who brings comfort to other people who are suffering, hurting and it helps people process their grief. >> it's okay. >> when sandy hit we were out in new york and new jersey and the children, they'll come up sad and they'll walk away happy. >> petting a dog relaxes a person. >> i know, you sweet thing, you're so cute. >> petting a dog helps them process whatever it is they're
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going through. >> i love dogs. there's nothing like that connection. >> dogs are big lovers. they show unconditional love and they're big, furry counselors because they're confidential and they don't keep notes. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me.
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just in, we are learning about a deadly shooting that took place. this is in blair county, pennsylvania. four people including the shooter are dead, there are three state troopers that have also been injured as well.
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according to pennsylvania district attorney says that one trooper was injured by a bullet that hit his armored vest. another was injured in a vehicle accident that took place with the shooter. a third trooper was injured by flying glass. when the shooter fired through the officer's windshield. we know a little bit more about the victims. three females and one male. the male, we are told, is the shooter himself. we are trying to get more details including the circumstances around this. those have not yet been released, but we do know that shooting taking place in blair county, pennsylvania, leaving four dead including the shooter and several injured, several state troopers injured as well. as investigators continue to look into what drove the newtown shooter to kill, they've asked a jennegeneticist to help him ans that came question. dr. h.j. carver wants to know if
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there's anything in adam lanza's biology to actually explain his behavior and many people are asking whether or not there were warning signs of what was going to happen. i want to bring in katherine newman, a sociologist with johns hopkins university and co-author of the book "rampage, the social roots of school shootings." you've been studying these things for years and the rampage shootings are rarely spontaneous and that people telegraph to friends and family what they are planning to do. how do they do that? >> well, they usually are telling their peers that they have ambitions to shoot up a school or take some other kind of action, but it's usually said in a very veiled way, suzanne. so it's not that easy to interpret. they will say things like i'm going to be running from the cops next week and everyone says, what is johnny talking about, but it piques their interest and that is what johnny is trying to do. >> why would he be trying to do
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that? is he trying to warn people? is he trying to give out some sign that he needs help here that he doesn't really want to do this. >> he doesn't usually really want to do this, but after many years of trying to get attention in other ways, johnny who is usually someone who has trouble making friends and connecting with other people discovers sadly that this does start to attract attention and so it's the last act, not the first act in a long line of efforts to try to ingrace yat himself in appear group holding him at arm's length. it's a kind of a veiled warning, but it has a purpose from a shooter's point of view in trying to attract attention to gain friends and that's the saddest part of it all and often these people that have spent many years trying to make friends and how am i going to get people to think of me differently and they find them more satisfying and others might find them more attractive if defined as notorious and
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dangerous than dweeby and a loser. >> is there a difference thbetwn kids that want to be alone or loners or someone you have to be concerned about because they feel a sense of rejection. >> there are kids who really are loners, but they're not the ones that explode in these rampage shootings. rampage shooters are usually people who have made extraordinary efforts to try to gain access to social groups and they fail and they fail time and time again. so the fixation on the loner or the notion that this is something that happens spontaneously because someone has experienced rejection really isn't the case. it's not spontaneous and it's not a loner. it's someone whose efforts to gain traction with peer groups fails time and time again until they start talking about shooting people and then they start to gain that traction and very often, sadly, their peers egg them on not knowing that this is something that the shooter intends to do and it's just part of the interaction
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often of teenage peer groups to push the boundaries with someone who is very sensitive and whose buttons can be pushed to sad effect. >> is there something that, like, young people can do if they're teenagers instead of pushing this person forward, pull them away, pull them back a little bit? what should they do? >> of course, most of us remember those teenage peer groups and not with a lot of fondness and they get a sense of solidarity out of excluding others and if we could teach teenagers that those could have cat strofk events and not only would that help other shooters, but it would help other kids who suffer from depression which say common thing in high schools. so the shooter is a much bigger tip of the iceberg in loneliness and rejection and most people get past it and go on past high school, but those who suffer a particularly, treatment form of mental illness take every slight
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as a magnified catastrophe and it means something more serious to them than to the ordinary kid that gross out of it and doesn't enjoy it either. >> is there a threshold or an age if it's not dealt with at that time that this person will only get worse and it will fester and turn into something like this, a violent rampage? >> we know these mental disturbances that often characterize shooters begin in adolescence and they're very difficult to identify at that age, but if they manage to make it to their 20s it becomes a more fluid form that we are able to identify and that's one of the hardest things about this particular shooting and once someone gets beyond high school where we see them in a social setting it could be much harder. >> katherine newman, appreciate it. >> robert f. kennedy's daughter weighs in on the gun control debate and it was in 1968 robert kennedy was shot to death by sirhan sirhan at the ambassador
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hotel in los angeles. we expect to hear from house democrats as well on the issue coming up at 1:00 p.m. eastern in the cnn newsroom. the only way, the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen, and meloxicam
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i'm suzanne malveaux. in just minutes the president will make a personnel announcement. we have confirmed it's the formal nomination of senator john kerry to be the next secretary of state. stay with cnn. you will see it live when it happens and we're expecting that about 1:30 eastern. senator kerry always on the short list to replace hillary clinton, but after susan rice removed herself from consideration he remomoved up te odds-on favorite. some of his colleagues were calling him mr. secretary. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. >> his senate colleagues have joked about his ambition, what many regarded as the worst-kept secret in washington, even in recent senate hearings john kerry sounded like he was looking ahead to his future job and the anticipated battles over the state department budget with congress. >> that must change and in the
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next session of the congress i hope it will. >> reporter: he wasn't the first choice. susan rice took herself out of the running after the republican backlash. >> it was unjustified to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice. >> senator kerry knows himself about being torpedoed by attacks, accused in his 2004 presidential run of lying about his military record in vietnam. >> john kry had not been honest about vietnam and criticized about the testimony opposing the vietnam war. >> how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in vietnam? >> kry was painted a flip-flopper and out of touch, unable to grasp the struggles of regular american, but candidate kerry did put president obama, then an unknown politician, on the national stage at the democratic convention. >> john kerry believes that in a
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dangerous world war must be an option sometimes, but it should never be the first option. >> following the loss, kerry immersed himself in foreign policy. >> we stand adjourned. >> reporter: now the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, he's been an envoy with for president obama and helping with karzai in afghanistan and helping mend strained relations in pakistan after the killing of osama bin laden. >> we are strategic partners with a common enemy in terrorism and extremism. >> reporter: but kerry is not totally in sync with obama. he has supported limited intervention in syria, something the president has resisted. over his 30-year career, kerry has built deep relationships with many foreign leaders? there are very few people in our country with greater experience over a longer period of time in foreign approximately see than senator kerry. >> perhaps kerry's biggest challenge to date is not his
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confirmation hearings in capitol hill following in hillary clinton's footsteps who has become one of the most popular both here and abroad. kate bolduan, cnn, washington. >> elise joins us from the state department. elise, give us a sense of some of the real big issues, the big concerns that he'll walk into if he is confirmed. >> well, i think, suzanne, clearly the middle east and all of the issues surrounding that. you have what's going on in egypt with president morsi and questions about his commitments to democracy and certainly the crisis in syria and how the u.s. is going to a, get rid of president bashar al assad and stand up the syrian people and help them recover once assad is out. the crisis in iran with its nuclear program and trying to get a deal this year, 2013 is seen as a real pivotal year in terms of having to deal with iran's nuclear program and then what's going on with asia and
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last week you have north korea testing that long-range missile. there are a lot of questions about what's going on with the leader there and this whole u.s. pivot to asia and trying to work more cooperatively to counter china. so certainly senator kerry, if he becomes the next secretary of state have a full plate. >> what was he like in terms of his personality? i covered him in 2004 when he was running for president in george w. bush and he was not really able to relate or identify to everyday folks, but he has quite a reputation overseas and abroad. overseas and abroad he has a reputation for knowing issue and he has relationships with a lot of world leaders and it was senator john kerry who convinced afghan president hamid karzai to go for a runoff election when the presidential elections were in question and i think he's going to be able to relate to leaders suft as secretary clinton did as a politician when these leaders are having
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problems compromising to say, listen, i'm in your seat. i know where you've been and run for office before and i think that will serve him well. here in washington, he is seen as someone who is very confident and on top of his brief and also someone who likes to control issues, and such as the middle east. he's someone who drills down and tries to command things. when you will be running an agency of tens of thousands of people, senator kerry will have to del bait and reach out to the expertise in the building and that's a big question if he comes over here. >> elise lovette, thank you. i want to bring in dana bash on the hill there. give us a bit on the back story here. i know there was back and forth because everyone was looking at susan rice and then you have senator kerry. >> that's right. >> i think you and i talked about this and it was awkward for a while here in the halls of the senate because the big question was whether or not susan rice could even get through and she would have to get through the senate foreign
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relations committee and john kerry is the chairman of that committee. and so people like me were going up to john kerry asking can susan rice get through? what do you think about it and it was very awkward and he would look at us like are you really asking us that question because it was an open secret that he wanted this job very, very badly, and even over the past week as we, at least lafit reported that john kerry would get the nod. we've been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to happen and pretty much every day i would pass him in the hall and say congratulations? question mark? and he would say not yet. and it was an interesting, hurry up and wait game when it comes to senator kerry. >> i don't know if we're hurrying up and waiting for the fiscal cliff thing, but let's talk about that and you spoke with speaker john boehner and the plan b never made it to the house floor and you've got ten days and counting before we
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could potentially face these big tax hikes and these spending cuts. where do things stand right now? >> you know, they're really, really in limbo. just moments ago, the senate majority leader he came for the first time and he chastised the speaker for wasting a week what he called a fruitless political stunt and it was stunning to see what happened in the house that this -- what was supposed to be a show boat, a political show boat never got off the ground because the speaker couldn't line up his own members and what was going to happen now, i just talked to a senior democratic source who said that for all intents and purposes the action will start in the senate now and they're actually talking about three possible scenarios which i'll lay out quickly and one is to go off the cliff because the thinking among some democrats is that when the new congress is sworn in january third, they'll have a stronger hand and they'll have more seats in the senate and the house and they'll be able to do something very quickly and yes, the markets will not react well for that day
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or two when they're in and maybe they could do that, and the second and third scenarios have to do with doing something next week and one is what they call fallback position, take the tax increases for everybody making more than 250,000 and add a few other important tax issues to that and that's only if they can get republican votes and then the other is taking what the president last offered speaker boehner, the package he last offered which was roughly $2 trillion toward debt relief and see if they can get enough republicans on that, but i am told senator reid does not want to do anything in this congress that is not going to pass the house because he doesn't want democrats to take the votes to go nowhere. >> we'll be watching closely. thank you. >> the gun debate is intensifying one week after the shooting in newtown, connecticut. the killing of 20 innocent shooting putting the issue back on the national a jeanedgenda.
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wayne lapierre called for putting armed police in every school. he also lashed out against the media, violent video games and lack of prosecutions and violent criminals. he said more gun laws are not the answer. >> the only way, the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> the gun debate very personal for my next guest. her uncle was shot and killed when she was 4 years old and when she was 8, a man with a gun killed her father. we are talking about kerry kennedy the daughter of robert f. kennedy and the niece of john kennedy. she's talking about gun violence.
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one big proponent of gun control, kerry kennedy lost both her uncle and father to assassinations, killings that changed the course of american history. >> president kennedy has been assassinated. it's official now. the president is dead. kerry kennedy writes in a new op ed. i was four years old when we lost my uncle to a man with a gun. es of eight years old when we lost my father, robert kennedy the same way. i can't begin to know what these days have been like for the families of newtown. some wounds may be healed by time, but there are others for which there is no cure, but to take action. kerry kennedy joining us from new york. thank you very much for being here. there was a moment of silence throughout the country and of obviously a lot of people who are grieving today and will continue to grieve. what can you say to the friends and to the foreign ministamilie
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victims in connecticut. i'm sure you understand more than anybody what they must be suffering and going through. >> to the people and to the family members i would say my heart and my prayers are with you and i can't imagine the pain that you're suffering right now and i think for the rest of the country who is looking at this, i would say this is a moment of terrible horror and sit with it, think about this, you know, this is walking through the mouth of hell and whenever we have that it's a time for discernment. let's gain the wiss demeanor that it has to teach us about who with we are as a people and as a country. >> how do people get through what you call that hell? >> well, i think, again, really trying to think about what the lessons learned are and not and
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for our family, of course, prayer was extremely important and still is, but i think also taking action. not feeling like you are only a victim, but creating change and that can be advocating for legislative change. we need to pass the assault weapons ban again. we need to restrict those high-capacity magazines. we need to address the mental health issues i the united states and i think there are things we can do at home ordinary people can do every day. >> for instance, i'm a mother. when a child is going have a play date feel comfortable about saying is there a parent -- will there a parent be home? do you have guns? if you do have a gun is it locked up and is it locked up in a place that's separate from the ammunition and is that locked up, as well? >> kerry, it was interesting.
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we heard from the head of the nra who was essentially saying that he believes there should be an armed official, a police officer in every school in this country. i want to play a little bit of that for you and then ask you to respond. >> the only way -- the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> what do you think of his -- his solution to this problem? well, i think it's frankly silly. it would cost billions of dollars and then we would also have to put an armed guard at every place of worship and every manufacturing plant and every movie theater and every place elsewhere people have used the assault weapons to gun down our
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family, and our friends and our community. and so i think, really, if we're serious about creating change, we have to go back to that legislative solution and stop the assault weapons and stop those high-capacity magazines from getting into the hands of the wrong people. >> you know more than anybody because of the assassinations of your relatives that gun violence is an issue and a problem back in the late '60s. it is now even worse. is this more of a culture of violence that is changing things? that is making it more dangerous for americans and not those who are targeted leaders of the country and just these innocent children. >> yes. there have been a million people who have been killed by guns in the united states since my father and martin luther king were killed and if you look at
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the 23 wealthiest countries. 87% of the kids that have been killed by guns have been killed in the united states. those are american children. so we have to really think about how we are acting as a nation. i used to be a gun owner, and i made sure that i kept my gun separate from the ammunition and that they were locked up, and i think that that's an important thing that all of us can do, but this is not about rifles that families are using to go hunting and participate in that american tradition. we're talking about assault weapons who are only good for shooting people. >> you used to be a gun owner. are you still a gun owner today? >> no. you know what? i got rid of our gun because i didn't want it to be near my children. i just have seen too many
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tragedies that have taken place in our country, but i understand that that's not the solution for everyone. >> and kerry, finally, is there anything you'd like to say to those in connecticut who have lost a loved one? >> i would just say my heart -- my heart is with you and i think our whole nation is with you today and in these very, very difficult times. >> all right. kerry kennedy, thank you so much. we appreciate that and the legacy of your family, as well. thank you. he was a vietnam veteran, a senator and now he could be our next secretary of state. we are waiting to hear john kerry's nomination from the president. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it happens. d up to 100? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.
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joining me by phone to talk about the nra's reaction to the massacre, tom fuentes. tom, today the executive vice president of the nra urging congress now to put armed officers in every school in the country. that is his solution. here's what he is suggesting. >> the budgets and you all know
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this, everyone in the country knows this, of our local police departments are strained. and the resources are severely limited, but their dedication and courage is second to none and they can be deployed right now. i call on congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation. >> all right, tom, i understand you're actually calling from virginia tech for your daughter's graduation and ironically or even appropriately, that is the place of the worst school shooting in american history where 32 people died. do you think the nra's solution of arming these schools would be helpful? >> well, i don't think you could do it, suzanne. i think as a practical matter it's just not doable. first of all, you have 100,000 schools in this country. here where i am at virginia tech
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i'm 100 yards from where my other daughter was when the first shooting happened five and a half years ago and it was right down the hall and her dorm was where the first two people were killed so i look around this campus and there's probably 50 buildings. so will we put 50 police officers, one in each building and is that enough? we have 100,000 institutions and multiply that by the number of buildings if you're talking high schools, you've got kids outside on the football practice thing or the tennis courts or the baseball diamond or the gymnasium. you have how many doors on a good-sized high school, would you be able to guard every door because they can certainly wait while someone comes out one of the other doors and go in. >> another thing with that is if you put an armed guard in an elementary school or nursery or preschool. they're going to be as well armed as the monster with the assault rifle as the nra says. that doesn't mean going up against them with a pistol.
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that will be mission impossible. it will be a suicide mission, but now we're going to have armed personnel walking around in our elementary and nursery will skoo schools so those officers can be equally armed with the bad guys. so i think the argument of trying to do that is just not practical. firearms instructor, i've been a s.w.a.t. team member and i've been a tactical commander in the fbi. i know what it takes to train people and equip them and the amount of of practice and training that would be required and it was not be feasible and especially in the couple of years to keep enough police officers and teachers from getting laid off. >> tom fuentes, thank you very much. we appreciate your perspective there. we are still waiting for president obama to come out and formally nominate senator john kerry for his secretary of state. we will bring that to you live as soon as it happens. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all?
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in just a couple of minutes we are watching here president obama will be formally nominating his former senate colleague john kerry to be the next u.s. secretary of state. while we wait for that i want to bring in my colleague wolf blitzer from "the situation room" and later we'll be talking to elise lavitt. as we wait here and watch what will be taking place in the roosevelt room, i understand, maybe a couple of minutes later than expected. we know he will be going before the senate and it's pretty clear that he stands a pretty good chance of being confirmed. does he have any detractor, do you think? >> there probablel be a few, people who remember all those negative swift boat advertising that came in the 2004 campaign. you might get a few, but i think he'll be overwhelmingly confirmed and that was set -- the tone was set the other day when senator john mccain was friendly with senator kerrie and
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started calling him mr. secretary and everybody was laughing and having a good time. senator mccain had made it very clear he was not going to -- he was not very happy with susan rice potentially becoming the secretary of state and u.s. ambassador to the united nations and that would have been a tumultuous confirmation process, but i think they'll basically let him go through and there will be tough questions and issues will be raised, but i have no doubt that he'll be confirmed overwhelmingly, first by the senate foreign relations committee which he chairs and then by the full senate. >> in 2004, i covered john kerry and john edwards when they were running against george w. bush, and one of the things the opponents were able to do effectively was to put a caricature to him, if you will, with the swift boat ads and the flip-flopping here. give us a sense of his reputation overseas. >> very good. very strong reputation overseas
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and during these first four years, the first term of the obama administration. the president has used him pretty much as a special envoy, if you will, as an unofficial m emmisary to various hot spots. even early when there was some hope that the u.s. could deal with bashar al assad, the syrian president and john kerry asked senator as chairman of the foreign relations committee was dispatched to damascus and met with the syrian president and we now know that came to nothing, that entire initiative to reach out. any of the initiatives that may have been going on elsewhere with iran, for example, and john kerry was not directly involved in reaching out to the regime in tehran, but he was used on some sensitive, back channel, diplomatic initiatives during the first four years of the obama presidency and by all accounts, people at the state department and people at the white house especially the
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president and the vice president of the united states, they were grateful to senator kerry for what he's doing. he's now being rewarded and this is a job he's wanted for a long time. he made it clear he didn't want it to be secretary of defense and he very much wanted to be secretary and the president will nominate him coming up in the next few minutes and i suspect we'll get an emotional statement from senator kerr in accepting the president's nomination. >> wolf, we're standing by and waiting for the roosevelt room for that announcement to come and we'll take a quick break and we'll see if that starts on the other side. we'll bring you back. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!
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we are waiting for the white house at the roosevelt room for the president to nominate john kerry as secretary of state. that nomination we're expecting in the roosevelt room momentarily. as we wait, though, i want to bring in alexander steele to talk about what much of the country will be dealing with in the next couple of days and that is some center as they try to travel this holiday season. what are we watching? what do we see? >> good afternoon to you, suzanne. the biggest story, of course, this major storm we've been talking about for days, right? now the bull's-eye is in the northeast and it's a different bull's-eye and we're not seeing
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the blizzard warnings and even if vermont and new hampshire, they're saying why is this rain? all of this rain is moving out and it's moving out of new york, philadelphia, providence and still in boston and up through the northeast and northern new england, you can see that, but the problem there is the rain coupled with intense winds and 40 and 50 mile per hour wind gusts and this is the synoptic storm we've been talking about for the last couple of days and what's happened now it's transitioned to a lake-effect snow event and copious amounts of snow and you can see them coming out like huron and eerie and places like cleveland and buffalo and syracuse and rochester and eerie and 6 to 12 inches coming and the ski resorts there, look at this. this is by tomorrow night and this pink delineating eight inches and charleston, west virginia getting 6 to 8 inches of show and that's where the troubles will be for tonight and into tomorrow, wind threat even
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from boston to northern new england and even in atlanta, georgia, it's blustery and cold and you can can see the light yellow is where the wind advisories are and that's today. all of the winds will abate in the mid atlantic tomorrow. with the winds, take a look at the delays if you're watching us from the airports, chicago, a ground stop until 12:30 central which is right about now and we'll see if that lifts and laguardia, of course, and wins are a huge factor there because of the way the airlines and the way the tracks are. in newark, as well, san francisco, four-hour delays and fort lauderdale, as well. >> we have to leave it there. we're getting the two-minute warning and we're expecting the president to come out and formally nominate senator john kerry. we're looking at teresa hines-kerry there. she was one of the people in 2004 that created a lot of buzz and excitement during john kerry's campaign. she was one of the people that a
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lot of people were drawn to as well as senator john edwards that was his runningmate in 2004. she is there standing with the vice president. i want to bring in wolf blitzer. he's gone through a number of various post positions and has had quite an impact not only in massachusetts, but on the world stage. >> he certainly has. it is interesting that, of course, his wife teresa hines-kerry, is there, and the white house chief of staff. missing in this photo opportunity, though, as you well know is hillary clinton, the current secretary of state. the reason being, she is still not feeling well. she suffered a major bout of the flu. it caused serious dehydration. she fainted at one point and then suffered a concussion and she has not completely recuperated otherwise she would be there, of course, suzanne.
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you and i have been to many of these kinds of announcements and normally she would be there, but she must really still be in pretty serious, bad, bad shape if she was not able to get it together to come over and attend this nomination by the president in the roosevelt room. t's listen in. >> good afternoon, everyone. when i took office our nation was engaged in two wars and al qaeda was entrenched in their safe havens. many of our alliances were afraid and america's standing in the world had suffered. over the past four years we've begun a new era of american leadership. we ended the war in iraq, put the al qaeda core on the path to defeat and we're winding down the war in afghanistan. we strengthened our alliances including in asia, forged new coalitions to meet global challenges and stood up for human dignity from north africa to the middle east to burma. we still, of course, face great
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challenges, but today i can say with pride that the united states is safer, stronger and more respected in the world. in this work, i've been grateful for an extraordinary national security team, tom donland has been a part of that and i'm grateful to him, of course, one of the most important people in this whole transformation has been our outstanding secretary of state, my friend, secretary hillary clinton. hillary wanted very much to be here today, but she continues to recuperate. i had a chance to talk to her earlier today and she is in good spirits, and could not be more excited about the announcement that i'm making. over the last four years, hillary's been everywhere, both in terms of her travels which have seen her represent america in more countries than any previous secretary of state and with her tireless work to restore the global leadership and she's looking forward to
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getting back to work and i am looking forward to paying tribute to her extraordinary service in the days to come. today i'm looking ahead to my second term and i am very proud to announce my choice for america's next secretary of state, john kerry. in a sense john's entire life has prepared him for his role. as a son of a born service officer, he has a deep respect for the men and women with of the state department, the role they play if advancing our interests and value, the risks that they undertake and the sacrifices that they make along with their families. having served with valor in vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use american power wisely especially our military power and he knows from personal experience that when we send our troops into harm's way, we must give them the sound strategy, a clear mission and the resources that they need to get the job done. in an extraordinarily
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distinguished senate career and as chairman of the foreign relations committee, john's played a central role in every major foreign policy debate for nearly 30 years. as we turn the page on a decade of war, he understands that we have to harness all elements of american power and ensure that they're working together, diplomatic in development, economic and political, military and intelligence as well as the power of our values which inspires so many people around the world. as john has said we are an exceptional nation not because we say we are, but because we do exceptional thing, and i would say that one of the more exceptional things we've seen in recent decades was when john helped lead the way along with folks like john mccain and others to restore our diplomatic ties with vietnam. when he returned to the country where he and so many others have fought so long ago it sent a powerful message of progress and of healing.
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over these many years, john's earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world. he is not going to need a lot of on the job-training. he has earned the respect and trust of his senate colleagues, democrats and republicans. i think it is fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as john kerry, and this makes him a perfect choice to guide american diplomacy in the years ahead. on a personal level john has been a great friend. i've appreciated john's partnership in helping to advance so many of my foreign policy proi orits including the ratification of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. i've called on his talence and diplomatic skills on several occasions on complex challenges from sudan and south sudan to the situation in afghanistan and each time he has been exemplary. of course, i also have to say thanks because john invited a
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young illinois state senator on address the democratic convention in boston. i was proud to serve with him on the foreign relations committee under the tutelage of joe biden, and where we all became friends, but of course, nothing brings two people closer together than weeks of debate prep. john, i'm looking forward to working with you instead of debating you. finally, i want to thank teresa. as someone who came to this country as an immigrant she understands the shining values that america represents to the world. as a former interpreter at the united nations, she appreciates how our interests can be advanced in partnership with others. teresa, thank you so much for being john's partner in this next endeavor. i have to say, i think i speak for john and joe and myself, we just left danny inouye's
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funeral, a man who exemplified the very best of the u.s. senate tradition, tradition, and so i know that john, it won't be easy to leave the senate that you love, and i think it's fair to say that there are going to be some great challenges ahead. an uncertain world will continue to test our nation, but even with all of the challenges that we face, i have never been more confident, more optimistic that if we act with wisdom and with purpose and if we're guided by our values and we remind what binds us together as americans, the united states will continue to lead in this world for our lifetimes. so john, i'm grateful that you've agreed to take on this assignment and i'm confident that the senate will confirm you quickly. i guess you won't be able to actually appear and preside at
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the same time, so we'll have to figure out how that works, but i know that you'll be an outstanding secretary of state. thank you so much. congratulations. [ applause ] [ inaudible question ] >> all right. you've been watching the white house, the president making it official that he wants senator john kerry as his secretary of state. a couple of reporters trying to get a question in if they can, if there's any reaction to the state of the fiscal cliff and the negotiations at the white house and behind the scenes. i want to bring in wolf blitzer,
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and jessica yell into talk about what we've seen and i want to start off with you here. there is no question about his credentials and the respect that he carries around the world. what do you think in terms of style, substance and leadership? how will he make a different kind of secretary of state than we've seen in secretary clinton? >> well, secretary clinton was, as you well know, she really moved. she was constantly on the go. she never stopped. she went to all these countries. i think she broke all sort of records. i know that madeleine albright and condoleezza rice and colin powell traveled a lot as sack, b secretary of state, and hillary clinton broke all these records and i'm not a medical professional, but the fact that she is sick right now, i suspect that a little batch of travel, that last burst that she did over these past few weeks and months probably contributed to some of her ailments right now,
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the serious flu that she's been stu suffering from and the dehydration and i had a chance to spend a little time on one of those trips and she went to france, egypt and tunisia. and i accompanied her on the plane and watched what was going on. she was non-stop. she took that kind of aggressive, non-stop travel to a certain degree from her husband the former president bill clinton. i traveled with him all of the time and he was non-stop, as well. we used to do day trips to bosnia or kosovo or whatever, and hillary clinton was like that. she moved, she moved, she moved, and i suspect we'll see that from john kerry and he knows he has four years to do what he needs to do and he'll try to milk as much of that as he possibly can. there are so many international issues out there on the agenda. i was surprised, i have to say. i thought he would speak after the president nominated him and say a few words and for some reason they decided he would not speak at the roosevelt room.
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normally they do that, but for whatever reason he didn't. he likes to talk, we know that. >> he does like to talk, and we know as well, secretary clinton when she was the first lady traveled quite a bit as well around the world. i want to talk to jessica yellin. the president seems confident that the nomination will pass and get through. his nomination process, and we have massachusetts. massachusetts politics and potentially an opening for republicans to take that seat. tell us a little bit about the jockeying that's going there. >> suzanne, there will be an open senate seat. so first, the governor of massachusetts will have an opportunity to appoint a caretaker to fill the seat for a temporary period of time and it it could potably be ted kennedy's widow, vicky kennedy, but she would be interested in doing it only for a short time and she would not run for the seat and the question is will it be scott brown who lost
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reelection to elizabeth warren? would he be the gop contender facing off against a various slate of potential democrats who include a number of current members of the house of representatives and then the, you know, unknown glitzy name thrown out there is ben of a wellec and we joked about that earlier. who knows? it's a list of unknown contenders and the date is yet to be set, but the president also has a full plate of national security positions to fill in the rest of his cabinet. he still has a secretary of defense to nominate. he has yet to fill the vacant cia post left by by petraeus' resignation. worth noting he singled out his national security adviser tom donilon for praise in his remarks there. the president has quite a bit to do before the end of the year, presumably he'll want to get it done by then.
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and some of those posts could get some attention, all right generating a bit of controversy and he'll have to make some tough decisions before all this wraps up, suzanne. >> tell us about the hot spots here, if he is, in fact, confirmed, what is he going to need to deal with first? i assume syria is high on the list and dealing with a potential nuclear iran. >> those are two of the big issues he'll be dealing with right away. the middle east is an area, suzanne, where i think john kerry will want to dive in and become very much involved. you also have the democratic crisis in egypt right now with president morsi. senator kerry has been to many of these places and i think my understanding is just from talking to some people that know him is when senator kerry is interested in an issue, such as the middle east, he likes to drive down, became very involved in the nuances of an issue and try to drive it.
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he can't, as secretary of state, you can't be the middle east peace envoy or the egypt peace envoy. you have to look at the whole world. there is also what is going on in asia right now with north korea recently launched that long range missile. there are concerns about its nuclear program. this so-called pivot to asia, if you will, how the u.s. counters china and engages with some of the countries in that region. and then you saw just this week senator kerry was talking very much like a secretary of state when he said that in the next congress, congress really needs to be going for more resources for u.s. diplomatic facilities and personnel abroad because this blistering report found that security in the post benghazi was woefully inadequate leading up to the attack on the u.s. consulate that killed chris stevens. he's got a whole lot of international issues to deal with, but he's also going to be leading a department that, including its foreign staff, has 75,000 people. >> all right. elise labott, jessica yellin, wolf blitze thank you very much, all of you guys.
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she's paid the estimated quarterly taxes or not. and -- >> she's still going to have to file regardless whether she paid estimated tax or not. that will help in what she owes. it is similar to working people where they have taxes withheld out of their paycheck. most likely as an independent contractor she's going to file whoo is kno what is known as a schedule c, a supplement to 1040, will list her business income and expenses. that would flow through to her 1040 return and file it as a normal personal tax return. >> anyway to maximize her benefit, her deductions as an independent contractor? >> certainly she should take advantage of all of the exemptions, deductions and credits to which she is entitled. you'll want to make sure you amass the 1099s you're likely to have gotten from clients and vendors and whoever paid you during the year and see whether or not it is business expenses, your health insurance that you might be paying for yourself, travel, any kind of supplies, materials you bought for your business, et cetera, write those off. keep records of it, of course,
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so if the irs ever audits you, you have the proof you actually did incur those expenses. >> thank you, guys, very much. if you have a question you want our experts to tackle, upload a 30-second video with your help desk question to ireport.com. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.
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nasa scientists have repeatedly tried to dispel the rumors about the world coming to an end. amazingly, one in ten people around the world believe that today is doomsday. they base this on interpretations of the mayan calendar which ends on 12/21/12. tell us wh